rewrite this title BHD has granted RD$1,190 million in loans to MSMEs led by women

Santo Domingo.- From 2019 to date, Banco BHD has received international funds for a total amount of RD$9.3 billion for financing commercial loans for micro, small and medium-sized businesses led or owned by women in the Dominican Republic. Of the above amount, the entity has already disbursed RD$1.19 billion, which has benefited 851 entrepreneurs in the MSME sector.

In 2019 the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) The IDB granted the BHD a fund of RD$500 million to support MSMEs run by women, which was exhausted that same year. In 2023, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and the IDB provided the local financial institution with funds of RD$8.8 billion for the same cause, of which RD$690 million has already been disbursed.

Luis Lembert, general manager of Banco BHD, said that “With these agreements, we consistently contribute to the economic success and major business goals of our country's MSMEs led or owned by women by facilitating their access to funds with better payment conditions. This contribution to the female business sector favors the reduction of the gap in access to credit that particularly affects women entrepreneurs.“.

81% of the businesswomen who benefited from these loans belong to the trade and services sectors; the rest to tourism, manufacturing, health, agriculture, education and construction. These credit facilities are mainly intended for working capital and investments in the business through the acquisition of assets. 49% of the loans were granted to MSMEs led by women located in the National District and Santo Domingo; 38% in the North zone, and 12% in the South and East zones.

Women at the centre of BHD's gender strategy

Banco BHD is part of the Dominican Republic's national Gender Parity initiative, a public-private collaboration model promoted by the IDB and the World Economic Forum, with the aim of reducing the barriers that prevent women from accessing employment, business and leadership opportunities on equal terms.

Josefina González, Senior Vice President of Personal and Business Banking at Banco BHD, highlighted that “We are the leading bank for women in the Dominican Republic and that is why we strive to highlight the principles of our gender strategy, which place women at the center of all our initiatives: internal labor practices of equality and gender equity, a value proposition that combines banking products and services with non-financial solutions and a social pillar through which we recognize and support women whose work contributes to the positive transformation of society.“.

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